


Magic

by annuska



Series: Sonadow Week 2019 (Twitter) [5]
Category: Sonic the Hedgehog - All Media Types
Genre: Anxiety, Established Relationship, Implied OCD, M/M, Mental Illness, Panic Attacks, tails is a smartass and so is shadow
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-20
Updated: 2019-06-20
Packaged: 2020-05-12 13:23:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 570
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19229989
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/annuska/pseuds/annuska
Summary: You can explain magic away to him all day, but Sonic still believes in it.(Please see additional tags for content warnings.)





	Magic

To say that Sonic believed in magic would be an understatement.

He had seen it too many times not to. To not believe in magic, having seen and lived through the things he had, would be to deny that the earth was round ( _oblate spheroidal_ , Tails would correct) or that stars twinkled in the night sky ( _it’s called astronomical scintillation and it’s an optical illusion caused by the earth’s atmosphere_ , Shadow would correct).

And just because there were explanations for some of those forms of magic never meant he believed in it any less. Tails and Shadow like to rationalize things like chaos power, mystic melodies, Amy’s tarot readings—Sonic rolled his eyes and told them they needed to learn to have some fun. He’d fought gods, literal gods! _Supernatural beings exist scientifically_ , Shadow pointedly reminded him, unsubtly referring to himself. Obviously.

Ultimate killjoy, Sonic called him.

They could explain it away all they wanted, but Sonic was steadfast: magic existed and it came in too many forms to contain or classify.

There was magic in the morning when he woke up next to Shadow and could reach over to touch him, to find him still there despite the worst of his dreams. There was magic in the afternoon when they sat in the garden, taking turns dragging yarn on the ground for their kitten to attack. There was magic in the evening when they sat together quietly, cuddled together each with their own book, Mar Mar filling the space between them with a quiet, endless purr.

And maybe the most magical was when Shadow knew exactly what he needed—what they both needed.

When Sonic lost his composure despite himself, overwhelmed by nothing and everything and all things in between. The dreams? The self-imposed pressure? The repressed traumas? He never really knew, but Shadow always seemed to.

“I shouldn’t feel like this,” Sonic would stammer, unable to breathe himself back into calm because then he just started counting his breaths and worrying that he wouldn’t be able to breathe normally again. “I should be there for _you_ ,” he’d insist, feebly holding his head in his hands and shaking it senselessly.

“Don’t talk like that,” Shadow would say. “Let’s go,” he’d say, holding his hand out to Sonic.

Sometimes, Sonic was the composed one. Sometimes, it was Sonic.

Sometimes, they fell apart together.

And sometimes when they fell apart together, at least one of them was composed enough to pull  them out of their own mess—and so it was that Shadow took Sonic by the hand, and Sonic found himself on the back of Shadow’s bike, holding on tightly as if for his life. Holding tightly with all the need of a person determined not to lose his beloved again—or to be lost.

And as they sped along the oceanside highway, lights zooming past in a blur, melodies drifting past him from the radio and Shadow held tightly in his arms, the panic falling away from him in the wind, Sonic found he could breathe normally again and felt the magic coursing through his veins.

Anyone could explain chaos power and mystic melodies and tarot cards away to him all day, but he’d never accept any explanation for the love he felt for and from Shadow, for the way the world melted away with him, for the way they fit each other like a perfectly-carved puzzle than magic.

**Author's Note:**

> day 5 for @SonadowWeek at Twitter!


End file.
